Living Nightmare
by shikatsu
Summary: Shaggy has nightmare connected to the past. Can he and the rest of Mystery inc. solve this Mystery before its too late? Strong T rated Chapter 3 ready to go. R&R, let me know how you like it.
1. It Starts

**Disclaimer I do not own Scooby doo they are the property of better people than me. However in this fic the characters are my playthings.**

**A/N writing this chapter I was actually in a happy mood so I have no flipping clue where it came from**

Chapter 1

It Starts

The trap went off catching nothing but air as Shaggy and Scooby accidently set it off. As usual he and Scooby were running from the newest ghoul they were investigating. The gang was at an old hotel supposedly haunted by the ghost of some serial killer. But from past cases they weren't completely convinced it was. So here they all were in their usual formation leaving Shaggy and Scooby to go off by themselves and cause havoc. What do they do trip the trap Fred had carefully laid. Just because it was most likely an old guy in a mask didn't stop everyone from running.

In the chaos to get away Shaggy had somehow lost Scooby. The hotel was a labyrinth of hallways and rooms. Turning a corner too sharply he cut himself on an exposed nail sticking out of the wall, but ignored the pain as he saw Fred at the end of the hall ahead. "Come on! I've found something." Fred yelled motioning for Shaggy to join him. The phantom dropped behind Fred noiselessly and pulled out a very real and wicked looking knife before slitting Fred's throat. A look of shock crossed both friends faces as Fred clasped at his throat trying to stop the bleeding and mouthed one word "Why?" Shaggy watched as his friends face drained of color before Fred's knees buckled, a pool of his own blood forming around him.

In a fit of rage Shaggy rushed to the phantom as it slid around the corner. By the time Shaggy got there it was gone; he shed tears for his fallen friend as he looked for the others they had to be warned. Shaggy ran through the halls, dim lights flickering at irregular intervals, until he came to a sight that made him cry out in shock and horror. His lifelong pal and best buddy in the entire world lay on the ground gutted and lifeless. "Scooby?" Shaggy asked with a choked voice knowing he wouldn't get an answer. Ahead of him just up the stairs he heard Daphne's shrill scream and sobs as she saw Shaggy with his beloved dog. He glanced up and called out to her "Daphne, watch out this guy has a knife…."he turned pale as said knife blossomed out her front coming out her ribs from the back. "No! Daphneeeeee!" he screamed fresh tears falling freely down his face. He ran forward and was in time to stop her from hitting the ground outright. "It's gonna be alright Daph."

"My favorite shirt." Was her only remark almost a whisper as her breathing slowed then stopped altogether. He kissed her forehead softly as sobs shook his skinny frame as he realized who the next target was. 'No' he thought 'not her too, I can't lose them all' he then ran faster than he had ever before in search of Velma. This bravery thing was new to him and he kind of liked the feeling. He looked everywhere he could then realized he hadn't checked the roof. Velma was there all by herself crying softly, he ran to her and enveloped her in a hug.

"They're all dead" he sobbed in her ear.

She nodded with tears still in her eyes. "I know, I saw Fred earlier and ran here to hide." She hugged him back tightly.

"Like, we have each other now, let's get out of here and get the police, or the army or something." He said enjoying the moment in his last friends arms, eyes closed. Velma suddenly jerked away from him causing his eyes to snap open. Just in time to see that monster behind Velma looking right at him, through him, into his very essence. With a maniacal laugh it twisted her head killing her instantly.

The sound of her neck breaking seemed to have a similar effect on his newfound courage. In its place came the flood of fear and confusion he knew so well. He turned and ran. He needed to get out and come back for help. Stumbling a few times along the way he finally made it to the front door. There was a chain and padlock on the double doors; he turned around resting his back against it. "Damn" he said out loud as he saw the demon who took them all away approaching with its knife raised to strike. It was then closer up that shaggy recognized that mask and those eyes. "Well if I'm gonna die anyway, I guess I'll unmask my final creeper." He said out loud so the creature could hear him. Reaching up with his hands he met the mask and felt around. With widening eyes he had a sudden realization. "That's not a mask is it? Your real" then the knife made its final downward arc towards his chest.

Shaggy woke up screaming and crying uncontrollably…


	2. Revelations

Chapter 2

Revelations

The rest of the gang burst into Shaggy's room expecting the worst. The two women and only other man were still in their night clothes but looked threatening anyway do to their "weapons". While Fred did have a baseball bat the other two… well Velma had her thickest hardbound book and Daphne had an expensive, albeit heavy, looking crystal vase. They wondered why Shaggy was still screaming bloody murder.

"Shag, what's wrong?" Fred yelled being the first to get there. Shaggy however couldn't speak quite yet as he was still shaking pretty badly. Velma sat on his bed and placed an arm around his shoulders expecting him to hug her as they had been dating for a few months now. At first he flinched away then looked at her and put his head in her lap with the occasional sob. The shaking was starting to calm a bit but was only noticeable by Velma.

"Shaggy?" Daphne said hesitantly noticing the quick exchange. She had known him better than the rest did, sure he scared easily but this broken shell of a person defied his usual cheerful attitude and goofy demeanor. "What's wrong?" she asked. His head shot up at her voice and he looked at her. The look in his eyes scared her more than anything else had so far. It was a there is no hope kind of look. She then did something to the surprise of everyone; she walked up to him and enveloped him in a hug. He seemed to calm down much more by this action.

This greatly confused Fred, sure he wasn't dating Daphne currently but for some reason he saw some deeper meaning behind the hug than just a friend calming another friend. However it did seem to calm Shaggy down so he let the point go. Then Fred glanced at Velma and saw the shocked look at betrayal and jealously written on her face. Probably thinking why her embrace hadn't help that much but Daphne's had a bigger effect. No one had time to contemplate this little piece of drama for shaggy had finally spoken in a choked voice.

"I had a nightmare, oh thank god you guys are here and alive." The hollow voice of their usually cheerful friend grated at their hearts. Then tears were shared all around as he went into the details of this dream. It was when he mentioned the nail that Velma noticed Shaggy's arm was bleeding in the same place he got cut in. She started to wipe the blood away and clean the cut but shaggy shook his head. "Later I promise. Sorry about before I wasn't myself." He promised this although his arms were still around Daphne, much to Velma's annoyance.

Velma ignored this for now however because her worry for him was stronger than her will to slap Daphne off her man. "Shaggy, you said near the end of your dream that you thought you recognized the masked face of the monster." She paused to get her next words right before continuing. "Who was it?" she then notice how Shaggy's arms tightened around Daphne.

"Daphne…." Shaggy said quietly. "Do you remember the chest?" The crystal vase Daphne had been hold fell to the floor shattering on the semi-hard carpeting. Now there was a tiny look of fear in her eyes as well, not nearly as noticeable as Shaggy's but still there. "Daphne we need to go to Tibet." That simple statement was all it took to send shivers up and down her spine.

"Oh god, you don't think?" she started; shaggy just shrugged indicating he had no idea. "Shit and the crystal ball just had to break last Halloween too. We could've tried to contact Vincent. Hmmm I don't really want to go all that was to find out nothing is wrong."

"Um, what the heck are you guys talking about!" Velma yelled her patience finally running out. "What is this chest? What the heck does that old Halloween decoration have to do in this? Who the hell is this Vincent guy? And why the Hell are you still coddling my boyfriend? You know it took me years to finally ask him out. WHAT THE FUmmmmfff" Fred by this point had covered her mouth and tried to calm her down. That was the first outburst any of them had ever experienced from the timid brain of the group.

Shaggy and Daphne finally realized that they were still holding each other and quickly sprang apart. Shaggy went to Velma his arms outstretched, hers were still folded across her chest anger plastered on her features. "Velms, I'm sorry but, like let us explain ourselves. If you still hate me after then ok but until then keep an open mind." Shaggy said. Velma nodded her acknowledgement.

"First of all, have you heard in your research of something called the Chest of Demons?" Daphne questioned. The researcher in Velma perked up as she had heard of it before.

"Jinkies." She said excitedly as she ran off to her room. Meanwhile everyone went to the living room to get comfortable on the couches and chairs. Twenty minutes later Velma returned with an ancient tome in her arms. "Finally found it. I was reading this book in my spare time." She said sitting next to shaggy which was an improvement from before and plopped the book down on the coffee table. Turning to the marked page she began to read. "The chest of demons is a mythical object that was used to capture the thirteen most fearsome ghosts the world has ever known. It was then locked and hidden in a remote location never to be seen again. Or so the legend goes." Velma looked from Daphne to shaggy and back. "You can't honestly be implying its real. Can you?"

"Honey, there is a lot you guys don't know about what happened." Shaggy said to Velma. He held her hand in his then kissed the back of it. "We'll tell the story but remember Velms…. I'm here with you now ok?" He then hugged her and pecked her on the lips. "Here we go…"


	3. History Retold

Chapter 3

History Retold

Shaggy, Daphne and Scooby began their story from the beginning.

"Well I guess it was right after me and Fred broke up that one time. We were all going off to do other things, Fred you went to trap camp for a few months then became an instructor there for a while. Velma you went off to apply to NASA. Well Shaggy went to collage while I tried to become a reporter." Everyone nodded at this as it was common knowledge to them. Daphne continued "Anyway eventually I got something as a freelance news reporter but I had no stories to do as we had cleared up almost everything newsworthy here in Coolville. Shaggy after a month of being in school had dropped out and started helping me with my career." Daphne paused and thought out the next part of the story, Shaggy beat her to it though.

"Yeah so we like, took off in the newly dubbed Mystery Machine Mark Two and traveled all across America just us, Scooby and Scrappy. After exhausting all that we eventually went all over the world. Don't get me wrong it was scary as hell, Scoob and I running from the newest spook and unmasking several new villains." He gulped then looked at Daphne. She nodded her head; it was ok to go on. "Without either of us realizing it we had gotten to be closer as friends. We were in sync so often it scared people. But all good things must come to an end." His eyes dropped to the floor at the memory. "We decided to go on vacation for a while."

"What's so bad about that?" Fred questioned interested in the story.

"Nothing bad until we ended up in the Himalayas instead of Hawaii. We were in our plane, the Mystery Flying Machine when we got lost." Daphne said before Velma interrupted her.

"Where'd you get a plane or learn to fly for that matter? Also who in their right minds would confuse Hawaii For one of the coldest mountain ranges in the world?" Velma had an annoyed look on her face, none of this was making sense.

"Well the ding bat here put Scooby in charge as navigator." Daphne complained. "As for how we got the plane, I'm a Blake Velma, sure I don't like to flaunt my family's fortune but I'm still rich you know. Anyway both shaggy and I have pilot's licenses. On one of our cases we helped out a person who taught us." Daphne put a hand on Velma's shoulder "I really am sorry about earlier, I hope you will understand when we come to the next part."

"So we ended up with one of our engines blowing and crash landing. We went to the nearest town to try to make repairs that's when we met Flim-Flam. Yes Fred that's his actual name." Shaggy said as Fred opened his mouth to ask that very question. Shaggy and Daphne looked at each other. "He was what ten or eleven?" she nodded. "Well he was like a con artist who was in town trying to make a buck with his miracle cure all potion. He introduced us to a warlock of great power; his name was Vincent Van Ghoul."

"Anyway we found out from him our plane had been taken inside the temple nearby and were about to leave town when the locals insisted we stay for the show at the pub. They spiked Daphne's drink with wolfs bane, which ended up with her turning into a werewolf. Then she and the townspeople chased us. Flim-Flam opened a bottle of his potion and sprayed her with it and what do you know the damn stuff actually worked. She was cured then he cured the rest of the town as well." Shaggy paused to get himself a drink of water.

Daphne picked up after him. "Then inside the temple we lost track of Shaggy and Scooby. There were two ghosts who tricked them into opening that damned chest. We were too late to stop it from happening. Seeing as they let the ghosts out they were the only ones who could put them back so we traveled far and wide to get them all. Or as Van Ghoul put it so many many times 'Because you let them out.' And so our adventure began a year and a half of ghost hunting."

Daphne took a sip of her own water before continuing. "We got our first ghost Malgor the Malevolent he was the ghost of an evil warlock. We cornered him in an ancient abandoned castle, and let me tell you that place gave me the creeps and we were lucky to even make it out alive. The next ghost was Queen Morbidia; it just kept going on and on." Daphne then stopped suddenly uncomfortable. She was unwilling to go on.

"Well what happened next." Velma said her anger no longer evident. This was an interesting story after all.

"I can't. I shouldn't." Daphne protested.

"Come on Daph it's just us, tell us for old times' sake." Fred was also riveted.

Shaggy broke into the conversation saving Daphne the embarrassment. "You don't have to say anything Daphne I'll tell them." He looked at Velma as if to say he was sorry. "We became more, uh, physical with our relationship to deal with all the psychological stress." He then ducked and covered expecting the Wrath of Velma, when no pain was forthcoming he looked up to see Velma's smiling face. "You're not mad?" he was confused now.

"No, for one I now understand what's going on. Two that was ten years ago that's old news now, and I was only angry before because it looked like you preferred her over me a couple hours ago. Three I love you more than that more so now that I know what happened all those years ago." Velma drew Shaggy closer to herself and their lips met for the first time since the nightmare happened. No one noticed the look of shock that was on Fred's face. He hadn't even done that with Daphne, and they had been going out off and on for years.

Daphne with a blush continued as Shaggy was occupied. "As you can tell we were successful in getting the ghosts back as the world hasn't ended yet. So Shaggy what should we do to see if has been opened again?" she was curious what plan he had.

"First ill call someone I know then I think we all need sleep for now." Shaggy said getting up. The others followed suit and Fred was going back to his room with a yawn and so was Daphne to her room. Velma was the last to get up and collect her book. "Velma?" Shaggy asked quietly thinking she wouldn't hear him.

"Hmm what is it?" the woman asked in the same hushed tone he used.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" He blushed heavily and expected a stern refusal. He was very surprised by her answer.

"I'd like that. Now make you call quickly it gets cold in my room." She left to her room but instead of closing the door she listened to his side of the call.

"Hello, Miss Grimwood Its Shaggy, Shaggy Rogers. Yeah, I was wondering if Phantasma was still around. Really? I actually need to talk with her father. He be there later? That's great well if it's ok with you me and my friends need to come by. What oh yeah it the rest of mystery Inc. Yeah ill warn them about things. Ok see you in a couple days, Bye." With that he walked to Velma's room and fell into bed with her. They didn't get much sleep that night.


End file.
